a playful poem of Black love and loss.
If you’re a poetry lover, by their fruits at Theatre503 is a show you certainly won’t want to miss. This choreo-poem written, directed, and choreographed by dkfash follows two characters, “him” and “her”, and the journey of their tumultuous romance from a state of “puppy-love” to something darker, more complex, and ultimately life defining. by their fruits is deeply rooted in Black British culture and identity; the show brings a humanity and specificity to characters whom we don’t often get to see in their fullest form. These principal characters are brought to life by actors Ivan Oyik (Doctors, BBC; Shook,Southwark Playhouse) and Reba Ayi-Sobsa (Black Mirror, Netflix; Daisy Chains, The Production Exchange). Both Oyik and Ayi-Sobsa do an excellent job at balancing the real and raw circumstances of the piece with its difficult textual form.
by their fruits is a highly stylized piece, and therefore is hard to critique within the typical conventions of a play or theatre making. Though speaking in poetics can be opaque for the viewer, in a weird way this occasional inaccessibility to knowing what exactly was being said, earned the characters a level of status and dignity that society at large would often not afford two Black people.
That said, my main criticism of the work is that at times the form overpowered the catharsis and essence of truth that by their fruits was moving towards. For instance, there were moments when the stakes of the plot were extremely high, but you would then be taken out of the intimacy of the moment by the commencement of a new poem. Having the poems be stylized and performed in more of a spoken word tradition was a powerful tool, but it occasionally competed with what the work was doing. However, there were also moments at which this seeming shift from more direct dialogue into metaphorical convention strengthened the scene. (A section in which the metaphor of clean and dirty feet comes to mind.) Similarly, sometimes the choreography really served the story and expanded upon Him and Her’s relationship, and sometimes it over punctuated what was going on in the plot.
Criticisms aside, the execution of the movement and the piece as a whole was quite incredible. There were certain moments of specificity within the choreography that were incredibly satisfying (pun intended) for the audience. Additionally, the lighting, costume, sound, and use of song were all deliciously in harmony with the work. This is a show that deals in extremes, the erotic, family, love, and loss, and the tech echoed all of it and tied it up in a little bow. dkfash’s by their fruits is playing at Theatre503 until November 30th.